Dose assessment of radionuclides dispersion from
Bushehr nuclear power plant stack under normal
operation and accident conditions
Ahmad Pirouzmand
*
, Peyman Dehghani, Kamal Hadad,
Mohammadreza Nematollahi
Department of Nuclear Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
article info
Article history:
Received 5 January 2015
Received in revised form
6 May 2015
Accepted 9 June 2015
Available online xxx
Keywords:
Radioactive material dispersion
Dose assessment
BNPP-1
LBLOCA
Gaussian plume dispersion model
abstract
Assessment of individual and collective doses around the unit-1 of Bushehr nuclear power
plant (BNPP-1) site during normal nuclear reactor operation and under reactor accident
conditions which are essential for safety and environmental analyses is presented in this
paper. Release of radioactive materials to the environment following a design basic acci-
dent (DBA) (e.g. LBLOCA) is evaluated using HOTSPOT health physics computer code. In the
normal operation conditions, atmospheric dispersion of radioactive material is calculated
using CAP88-PC code. These codes utilize a Gaussian dispersion air transport plume model
to simulate the atmospheric dispersion of radionuclides in different atmospheric stability
classes and various wind speeds and directions. To calculate the doses under normal
operation using CAP88 code, the surrounding area of the BNPP-1 within a radius of 30 km is
gridded into 12 concentric rings and 16 sectors and the distribution of population and data
of agricultural products are calculated for each grid. The meteorological data on atmo-
spheric stability conditions, wind speed and the frequency distribution of wind direction
based on data collected near the reactor site are also analyzed and applied. The results
illustrate that the maximum total effective dose equivalent (TEDE) and committed effective
dose equivalent (CEDE) values for personnel and public around the BNPP-1 site are lower
than the annual effective dose limits for workers and public in normal operation and under
accident conditions. Also, the results of the radiological impacts of the BNPP-1 in normal
and accidental radioactive materials releases are compared with the dose values given in
the Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR) of the BNPP-1.
Copyright © 2015, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights
reserved.
Introduction
One of the most crucial safety and health physics concerns in
research and power nuclear reactors is the radioactive
material release around the nuclear reactor site. Due to the
unavoidable presence of personnel within the reactor site and
the population outside the site, the release should be moni-
tored frequently and properly for both normal operation and
* Corresponding author. Tel./fax: þ98 71 36473474.
E-mail address: pirouzm@shirazu.ac.ir (A. Pirouzmand).
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
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international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (2015) 1 e8
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2015.06.043
0360-3199/Copyright © 2015, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article in press as: Pirouzmand A, et al., Dose assessment of radionuclides dispersion from Bushehr nuclear power plant
stack under normal operation and accident conditions, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/
j.ijhydene.2015.06.043